Monthly Archives: December 2013

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Rep. Ryan makes sense on Meet the Press

I thought my ears were playing tricks on me today when I listened to the “Meet the Press” interview with Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray, co-chairs of the congressional committee that hammered out the two-year budget deal that passed overwhelmingly in the House the other day.

There was Ryan, a stalwart tea party Republican — and the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee in 2012 — sounding reasonable and accommodating. He noted that compromise requires both sides to give a little. He said it was good to sit down with the Democrat Murray to understand what she believes and where she stands on budget matters.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/12/15/sen_patty_murray_rep_paul_ryan_tout_budget_deal_in_joint_mtp_interview.html

Ryan also noted that the 2012 presidential election, which he and Mitt Romney lost to President Obama and Vice President Biden, served as a wakeup call to Republicans. The other side won and we lost, Ryan said.

Therefore, it was time to start working with those on the other side, not against them.

Therein lies the key to the budget deal that has enraged the right-wingers of the GOP and made more than a few left-wing Democrats unhappy. The message from Ryan and Murray? Live with it and let’s back to governing.

It’s nice to realize I wasn’t hearing things after all.

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Tea party faces big test in Texas next year

Ross Ramsey has put together another fascinating analysis for the Texas Tribune about the upcoming Republican Party primary race for the U.S. Senate in Texas.

It involves the incumbent, John Cornyn and a loudmouthed challenger, U.S Rep. Steve Stockman of Friendswood.

Stockman is a tea party favorite who’s decided to give up his House seat for a shot at Cornyn’s Senate seat. Good luck with that.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/12/13/senate-race-sound-and-fury-signifying-what/

Ramsey puts forth the view that Stockman’s candidacy may provide significant data on just how strong the tea party is in Texas. He notes that Ted Cruz knocked off Lt. David Dewhurst in 2012 to win the GOP nomination to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Stockman could do the same with Cornyn. I doubt it’s going to happen. At least I hope it doesn’t happen.

I’m trying to imagine Texas being represented by Ted Cruz and Steve Stockman in the same Senate chamber. Have mercy on us.

I didn’t have the honor of covering Stockman back in the mid-1990s when he was serving his first term in the House. He won that seat in 1994 by knocking off the legendary Democratic stalwart Jack Brooks of Beaumont. After watching the campaign from my post in Beaumont, I left the Gulf Coast for the Texas Panhandle in January 1995. My successor at the Beaumont Enterprise, Tom Taschinger, had the distinct pleasure of watching Stockman up close during his single term in Congress; he lost his seat in 1996 to Democrat Nick Lampson. My pal has written an equally interesting commentary detailing the folly of electing Stockman to the Senate.

Here it is:

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/opinions/columns/article/THOMAS-TASCHINGER-Stockman-faces-gigantic-odds-5063347.php

I’ll go out on a limb here and suggest that Texas Republicans know better than to knock off a senior GOP senator with substantial conservative credibility in favor of a goofball who didn’t distinguish himself the first time he served in the House — and who has done even worse during this second tour of duty in Congress.

It is true that David Dewhurst got blindsided by Ted Cruz in 2012. I’m pretty sure John Cornyn will keep his eyes wide open as he hits the campaign trail against Steve Stockman.

Look for the mud to start flying soon.

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Aggies join the campus presidency tumult

Just when I thought that Texas A&M University had avoided the kind of administrative warfare that has dogged the folks at the University of Texas-Austin, there go the Aggies in getting mixed up in a tussle over who should be the next president of the system’s flagship campus.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/12/14/hussey-named-interim-president-texas-m-university/

The A&M System Board of Regents has unanimously named Mark Hussey to be the interim president of A&M-College Station, succeeding R. Bowen Loftin, who will leave soon to become chancellor of the University of Missouri.

It turns out Hussey was favored by Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp. Another prominent Aggie, Gov. Rick Perry, wanted an old pal, Guy Dietrich, to get the interim president job.

Sharp’s guy won out. Too bad for the governor.

This kind of dispute is troublesome. We’ve been witnessing the hassles occurring at UT-Austin with President Bill Powers’s fight with some of the UT System regents. Gov. Perry has gotten mixed up in that kerfuffle as well. The regents keep meddling in Powers’s administrative duties. Perry, strangely enough, hasn’t done a thing to get them to back off, given that Powers was hired to do the heavy administrative lifting at the Austin campus.

I’m now officially concerned that Hussey could be undermined by Perry-Dietrich loyalists as he seeks to run the College Station campus during its transition from the Loftin era to whomever will get the permanent job.

It also might signal a rift between Sharp and Perry, one-time political rivals who have made peace in recent years. Sharp lost the lieutenant governor’s race to Perry in 1998 by a narrow margin. It was reported then that bad blood brewed between the two former Aggies dating back to when they served in the Legislature together.

I hope it’s all a mirage, that the two men are bigger than to let old hostility resurface.

The Texas A&M University System deserves better — as does the UT System — than to let politics get in the way of effective university administration.

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Mandela was no pork-barrel politician

They’re burying Nelson Mandela today in his hometown of Qunu, in a remote eastern region of South Africa.

Indeed, the remoteness of the great man’s home brings me to an interesting point. Listening to NPR on Friday, I heard something that caught me by surprise. A Qunu villager actually was critical of Mandela for — are you ready for this? — failing to bring more modernity and infrastructure to his hometown.

The news report detailed how much hassle it would be for Qunu to prepare for this event that is drawing worldwide attention. The village lacks many modern amenities. Roads are unpaved. There’s virtually no lodging available for visiting dignitaries. Qunu lacks much of the sewage and fresh water infrastructure that is needed to accommodate the visitors.

The individual being interviewed wondered why “Madiba,” as Mandela is called, would have neglected his hometown while basking in the glory of international acclaim and reverence.

Interesting, I thought.

I’ve tried to ponder the implications of that criticism.

Imagine, then, this scenario playing out. Suppose Barack Obama would steer road and bridge development to his south Chicago neighborhood, or perhaps to Hawaii, the state of birth. Imagine if you will George W. Bush directing federal money to Crawford, Texas, where he vacationed often while he was president and where he has a small ranch; Crawford could use some highway improvements, too. What if Bill Clinton had done the same for his hometown of Hope, Ark., or George H.W. Bush done so for Houston (which doesn’t need as much federal help as many small towns in America)? Hey, Ronald Reagan came from a small town in Illinois, Dixon. Couldn’t that town have used a little presidential push to build infrastructure? Same for Plains, Ga., Jimmy Carter’s hometown.

Any of those men would have been accused of promoting pork-barrel politics above the national interest.

Might that have been the case for Nelson Mandela, who presided for a single term — from 1994 to 1999 — over what’s been called a “developing country”? Its gross domestic product goes only so far and it well might have raised more than a few eyebrows if Qunu had received money that could have been spent in other struggling villages.

Mandela will be buried today. The town will erect a suitable monument to its iconic son.

My hunch is that Nelson Mandela eventually will bring much in the form of tourist money to Qunu now that he’s gone.

His greatness lives on.

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This race could determine Texas tea party power

Republican Texas state Rep. Joe Straus has been challenged for his San Antonio Texas House of Representatives seat by one Matt Beebe, who lost to Straus in the 2012 election.

Why does this matter to anyone outside The Alamo City? Straus also is speaker of the Texas House. Beebe is a tea party darling who lost to Straus in an ugly, name-calling campaign.

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/texas-politics/2013/12/house-speaker-straus-draws-familiar-primary-challenger/

So … what now?

By my reckoning, Straus has done a pretty good as speaker by trying to include everyone in the lower legislative chamber. That means Democrats. However, as has been the case whenever the tea party gets mentioned, the far right wing of the GOP just cannot stand it when Republicans work with Democrats to, oh you know, try to get legislation enacted. They try to make government actually work, make it function, try to get things to move forward.

I guess Beebe doesn’t see things that way. He says Straus isn’t conservative enough for the voters of House District 12. I beg to differ with him on that one, given that voters have re-elected him repeatedly. I would surmise from that electoral result that Straus’s conservatism fits his constituents just fine.

What I think Beebe really intends to say is that Straus isn’t conservative enough for, well, Matt Beebe.

Although it is true that Republicans hold a supermajority in the House of Representatives, the speaker is in charge of the entire body, not just the GOP wing of it. The speaker makes committee assignments involving Democrats, too. He must juggle multiple legislative balls in the air — and that means working with the other party when the need arises.

I believe Straus has managed to do that and it’s one reason why he deserves to be sent back for another term as state representative from San Antonio.

I’ll let the House members haggle among themselves over whether he should return as speaker.

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Boehner showing some spine … finally

I’ll admit that Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner’s sudden display of steel is quite becoming.

It’s nice to have so many of your House colleagues on board with a plan so that you can say what you really think — at least I hope it’s what he really thinks — of the ultra-conservative interest groups that have taken your Republican caucus hostage for the past three years.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/12/13/john-boehner-back-on-top/

The House approved this week by a 332-94 margin a budget deal brokered by a committee chaired by tea party darling Rep. Paul Ryan and his Democratic Senate colleague Patty Murray. A few hardliners held out against the deal, which heads off a government shutdown, strikes down much of the mandated budget cuts created by sequestration and cuts the deficit a little bit over the next decade.

One guy who I feared might vote “no,” my own congressman Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, actually voted in favor of the deal. His West Texas colleague, Randy Neugebauer, R-Lubbock, stuck with his do-nothing approach to government and cast a negative vote. I am not surprised Neugebauer wouldn’t sign on; after all, he was the guy who scolded a National Park Service employee for doing her job — at Congress’s orders — when she refused to let tourists into the World War II Memorial in D.C. during the government shutdown in October.

Boehner now has taken the gloves off, more or less, in calling out folks like the Club for Growth and Heritage Action, who oppose any deal that results from compromising with Democrats. He says they’ve “lost credibility.”

I’m kind of hoping that Boehner, who I believe at heart is a decent guy with good-government instincts, finally is realizing that as the Man of the House he has the power to get things done and that he doesn’t need to buckle under to the pressure brought by factions within his party.

As the Washington Post notes, he has clawed his way back on top “for now.”

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Congress sees ‘spike’ in approval rating

What gives here?

Congress’s approval ratings, which had been languishing in the single digits for months on end, suddenly have taken a “spike” upward. According to the RealClearPolitics.com poll average — the one that takes in all the major polls’ findings and averages them out — shows congressional approval at 12.4 percent, as of Dec. 9.

I think we’re going to see even more improvement in the days and weeks ahead.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html

On what do I base that bold prediction? It’s the budget deal hammered out by Democrats and Republicans, actually working together to avoid a government shutdown that has done the trick.

I’ve noted already that the deal announced by committee chairs Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray — a Republican and Democrat, respectively — is far from perfect. But the bigger point is that legislation rarely satisfies everyone. Good government almost always is the product of compromise, which by definition means both sides have to give a little to get something done.

If you track congressional approval ratings on the link attached to this blog back to when the government shut down in October, you’ll notice a decided tanking of public approval of Congress. Republicans leaders who run the House of Representatives took it on the chin the hardest from Americans fed up with the obstruction, the posturing and the do-nothing approach taken by the GOP.

It goes without saying — but I’ll say it anyway — that both chambers of Congress are populated by politicians … even those who say they “aren’t politicians.” Therefore, politicians depend on the people’s feelings about the job they’re doing if they want to stay in office.

All 535 members of the House and Senate should take heed at this “spike” in approval ratings. I think Americans are sending them a message: Do something — for a change.

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Writing an obituary for the living? That’s a new one

Every now and again, I run into situations that catch me totally flat-footed. They come out of the blue when you least expect them.

Today produced one of those situations.

I was at work today when a long-time friend sauntered into our service department waiting area. We greeted each other as he sat down. I asked him the question I ask all our customers, which was whether he wanted something to drink while he waited for his vehicle to be serviced.

He declined, but then dropped the bombshell right at my feet.

“I’ve been thinking about this for some time,” he said, noting that his wife “thinks I’m getting old.”

He asked me if I’d write his obituary.

I was stunned momentarily. My friend looks to be in good health. He’s elderly — just as his wife has told him — but he seems still quite fit and alert.

He walked me through his history briefly, telling me his family moved to the Texas Panhandle in the late 19th century. He grew up in Amarillo and has spent most of his life here, except for some time away on business.

“I’ve got a lot of things collected that I want to share with you,” he told me. My friend, who’s been something of a player at many levels for years in Amarillo, wants someone to tell his life story in a manner he deems fitting.

After catching my breath — given that I’d never received a request like that — I told my friend “I’d be honored to write your obituary.”

I thought about it as I finished working for the day. He’ll edit the draft. He’s certain to make changes, which of course is his prerogative. I’ll do whatever he tells me to do to tweak and polish the final text.

In my nearly 37 years in daily journalism, one of the things I learned about obituaries is that mistakes cannot be tolerated. Obituaries contain the final words that will ever be written about someone. You want to get it right, period. You take extra care to ensure that every detail — no matter how minor or seemingly trivial — is exactly right.

Writing something like this with the subject looking over my shoulder will be at once intimidating and no doubt emotionally wrenching.

I’m ready for this most unexpected challenge. My hope is that my friend lives long past the time we put a wrap on it.

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‘Affluenza’ defense pays off for drunken teen

Ten years probation.

That’s what a Tarrant County teenager got for killing four people while driving drunk. In fact, Ethan Couch’s blood-alcohol level was three times the minimum legal definition of drunken driving.

Four lives are snuffed out and for this the kid gets probation? That’s it?

Amazing.

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20131212-despite-four-deaths-tarrant-judge-buys-affluenza-excuse.ece

The judge who handed down this virtual non-punishment is Jean Boyd, who presides over a juvenile court in Fort Worth. As the Dallas Morning News editorial attached here, the judge apparently bought a line of defense that strains credulity to the extreme. The Morning News opined: “Boyd apparently swallowed whole the defense argument that Couch was just a poor, little rich boy effectively abused by parents who set no boundaries and gave him everything except actual parenting. ‘Affluenza,’ as a defense psychologist called it, or wealth assuming privilege.”

Prosecutors sought a 20-year sentence for the kid, who’s now 16. On June 15, his recklessness killed those four people and wounded gravely two others who likely may never recover fully from their injuries. That is a path of death and destruction that cried out for some punishment other than just a probated sentence. As the Morning News noted in its editorial, Couch might have been paroled by his 19th birthday under Texas law had the prosecutors gotten their wish.

Police on the scene called the accident the worst they had seen. Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said he will have trouble explaining probation to his children and grandchildren, given what he witnessed from this crime.

Justice wasn’t done with this decision. Shame on the judge.

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Immigration reform gets big boost

The overwhelming approval this week of the bipartisan budget deal signals a big win for U.S. House Speaker John Boehner.

The question now becomes whether he is feeling his Wheaties enough to push through some other legislation that needs to be enacted — such as immigration reform.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/193034-does-boehner-victory-pave-the-way-for-immigration

The 332-94 House vote approving a budget deal that forestalls a government shutdown has been described as Boehner’s win over the tea party wing of his Republican Party. The tea party clowns also have been yammering against any effort to reform the nation’s immigration laws.

Boehner, until right about now, has been listening to the tea party crowd and saying things like the House won’t act on immigration this year, or maybe even next year. The budget victory now sends other signals that Boehner — who many believe wants to do an immigration deal — might be willing to step on a few more tea party toes.

Go for it, Mr. Speaker.

The nation needs desperately to give the 11 million or so undocumented immigrants living here a chance to come out of the shadows. Do they deserve a complete amnesty? No. They do deserve a chance to become citizens if that’s their desire. President Obama wants to enable those who were brought here as young children a chance to wipe the slate clean, given that they’ve grown up as Americans and know nothing other than life in this country.

The president has an unlikely ally in that effort in the form of GOP Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who also happens to be a tea party darling and who might run for president himself in 2016. Perry, though, governs a state with a large illegal immigrant population and he understands the complexities of the issue and knows how hard it is to round ’em all up and send ’em back the country of their birth.

So, I’m hoping Boehner can decide that the tea party wing of his party isn’t quite so fearsome and he can move immigration reform through the House of Representatives. If nothing else, he can help head off the designation that this Congress has earned for being so unproductive.

No one wants the “do-nothing” label hung around their neck, correct Mr. Speaker?